Empire State Cup: New York City Repeats as Gold Winner, Final Stats, All-Tournament Team

New York City defeated Long Island 4-2 to repeat as champions of the Empire State Cup in lowest-scoring contest of the entire tournament. New York City completed the tournament with an undefeated at 7-0.

Mike Perkins got New York City on the board first, sprinting down the left lane and threading an overhand shot to the top right corner. Long Island would tie the game shortly thereafter, as Jason Debenedictis scored on a pass from Troy Miller.

New York City got outstanding performances from their goaltenders, as Dylan Moser recorded 6 saves in the first half, and then Daniel Katzman followed that up with 7 saves in the second half. Strong play in the cage, as well as solid defense led by John Carrigan and Dominick Calisto, helped New York City keep Long Island off the scoreboard for a stretch of more than 24 minutes, with the Island team going scoreless in the second and third quarters.

Meanwhile, New York City would pull ahead 2-1 in the second quarter on an unassisted tally from Patrick O’Rourke, who slapped a looseball off a deflected save into the net. New York City pulled ahead 4-1 in the third, as Jake Schneider scored on a feed from Perikins, and then William Pasik scored unassisted.

The City squad would get shutout in the fourth, and Long Island got its second goal when Paul Guarino scored on a long range crank on a feed from Brian Gaffney. New York City would hold on to claim the 4-2 lead and repeat as gold medal winners at the second annual Empire State Cup.

"It feels very good to repeat," said New York City coach Ben Kaminow. "Despite winning all the pool games, I was very nervous going into the playoffs. We had two nice come-from-behind wins against Western and Central, both strong teams. That was a wake up call for the boys and it made them dig deeper and come together. Our defense was very solid and played very hard and smart. The goaltenders, as you can see from the stats, didn't have many saves but came up huge when it mattered. I also thought our young poles played very well getting the ball off the carpet."

Kaminow, who attended Syracuse and played club lacrosse there in the '80s, has been one of several figures who've helped raise the level of lacrosse in New York City. He credited his fellow coaches for helping lead the New York City team to its second consecutive gold medal at the Empire State Cup.

"It took a total team effort. ... Joe Fowler did a great job of orchestrating our defensive schemes and Kenny Nims was a huge help to me on the offensive end. Going into the (gold medal) game against Long Island, I was very nervous. I knew they were a much better team than our first game showed. The adjustments they made forced our other guys to have to step up and go to the hoop. I tip my hat to Greg (Matthews), Matt (Panetta) and Marc (Reeves). The collective lacrosse IQs showed in the final game for sure."

Bronze Medal Game: Central 15, Western 6

Central topped Western 15-6 to take home the Bronze Medal. Central was strong from the get go, taking a 7-2 lead at the half. Central dominated at the face-off X, going 19-24 thanks to Andrew Potter (10-13) and Henry Mann (9-10). Both Potter and Matthew Bennett scored 4 goals for Central. Ryan Cook contributed 1 goal and 2 assists for Central, while Bailey Wilkinson generated 3 assists. Davis Prince went 1 and 2 to lead the Western squad. Central goalie Nicholas Nehring made 10 saves.

Consolation Game: Hudson Valley 14, Adirondack 2

Hudson Valley downed Adirondack in convincing fashion to win the consolation game. Hudson Valley came out with a fast start getting up 4-0 at the end of the first quarter and then 7-0 at halftime. The Hudson Valley offense continued to produce, scoring 7 goals in the second half to beat Adirondack 14-2. Hudson was led by attackman Kevin McDermott who scored 3 goals and had 1 assist. Michael Cegielski also contributed 3 goals for Hudson Valley. Adirondack’s leading scorer was attackman Sterling Sikes (1g, 1a). Hudson Valley won the battle at the X, going 13-17, credit to face off men, Orefice (9-11) and and Farquharson (4-6).

Inside Lacrosse and @ILPreps were on hand to help select the Empire State Cup All-Tournament team, which is listed below. The tournament's MVP was New York City's Joe Licciardi (St. Anthony's/Penn), who finished with 10 goals and seven assists.

Long-time Inside Lacrosse contributing photographer Larry Palumbo was on hand shooting photos. You can see some of those below, and you can see much more (and purchase photos and order custom posters) on Larry's website: CoyoteMagicActionShots.com.